Railway safety appliance.



A. M. JONES. RAILWAY SAFETY 'APPLiANGE. APPLICATION 111.111) DBG.18, 1907.

Patented NOV. 24, was

2 SHEETS-SHEET 1. U

A. M. JONES. RAILWAY SAFETY APPLIANCE.

APPLIUA TIGN FILED DBO. 18 1907.

Patented M124, 1908,

2 SHEETSSHEET 2.

' locomotive in ordinary use and in connection .maybe operated upon 'a locomotive in the event of its approaching an open switch or a into the path of an operating membercar Jscribed and pointed out in theclaims.

larged section on line 2+2, Fig. 3. Fig? is UNITED STATES PATENT ore-Ion.-

ALBERT M. JONES, or HAGERSTOWN, MARYLAND, ASSIGNOR or ONE-SIXTH'TO ALBERT I.

- LONG, ONE-SIXTH TO LEON R. YOURTEE,

or HAGERSTOWN, MARYLAND.

AND TWO-THIRDS TO JOSEPH K. HOFFMAN,

' BAILWAY SAFETY APPIJI'ANGE.

To all whom 'it may concern:

Be it known that I, ALBERT M.'Jo1\"- Es,a citizen of .the United States, residing at Hagerstown, in the county of \Vashington' and State of'Maryland,'have invented a new and useful Railway SafetyfAppliance, of which the following is a specification. vThis invention relates to railway safety appliances and its object is to provide means whereby a signal,'either visual or audible,

block. in which a danger signal is displayed. Another object is to provide 'means of novel construction disposed close to the track and designed when'a switch'is open or a danger signal is displayedto project upward I r ied by the locomotive, said memberbeing disposed to direct compressed fluid into a visual or other alarm device located upon the engine. I

Another object is to provide mechanism of this character which. is simple, durable, and eflicient, and maybe readily .installedupon a with switches and semaphores such as now utilized without necessitating any changes. in the construction or arrangement of the parts.

l Vith these and otherobjects in View the invention consists'of certain novel-features of construction and comb nationsof .parts which 'Wlll be 'herelnafter more fully de-' In the accompanying drawings is shown the preferred form of the invention. c

' In said drawings: Figure l is a side elevation of the complete apparatus used in connectionwith' a semaphore mm: Fig. 2 is a plan view of the semaphore arm and ,the tripping member connectedthereto. Fig. 3 is an enlarged side elevation of said tripping member. Fig. 4' is an enlarged section on line rc-a*, Fig. 3. Fig. 5 is an enlarged sectibn on line g g Fig. 3 Fig. '6-is an en,-

an enlarged vertical section through the a .horizontalsection therethrough F ig-.T9- is- & planview showing the apparatus applied to a switch. I

Referring to the figures ,by characters of reference, '1' design-ates a base plate having I Specification of Lettere Patent.

1 Application filed December 18, 1907. Serial No. 107,034.

Patented Nov. 24 1908.

an outstanding. stop lug 2 and this plate is designed:- to fit snugly between the base flange 3 and the head 4' of a rail and'to be secured in position-bymeans of a bolt 5 extending through the web of-a rail. This bolt constitutes the fulcrum of a lever 6 which has an arm 7 extending therebeyond at an angle -mounted within this fork is a link 9 the free end of which is looselymounted within a slot '10 extending through a guide block '11.. This guide block is designed to fit snugly between the head 4 and base flange, 3 of arail and to be secured against the web of said railby means of a bolt 12 cast into the block as shown in Fig. '6. A plate 13' is extended under the rail and below the connected ends of lever 6 and link 9 and mounted onthis plate is a coiled spring 14 upon which the fork 8 bears. An eye,l5 extends downward from the upper end of link 9 and connected to it is a flexible device 16 such as a cable, chain or the like. which extends downward through the coil and under a pulley 17 'journaled below plate 13' between hangers 18.

The apparatus hereinbefore described is I designed to be placed a considerable distance from a switch or a semaphore arm coiiperating therewith. In Figs. 1 and 2a signal device has been shown in connection with said apparatus, said device consisting of a standard 19 on which .is mounted a semaphore arm 20' designed to be operated in any ordinary 0r preferred manner to inijtir cate danger The flexible element ,afiter leaving thepulley 17 isextended around pulleys 21 and 22 and thence upward along the standard 19 to the arm20. The connection16 is so attached to the arm 20 that" when said arm is moved in a; position to 1udi- 'cate danger the connection 16 becomes slack and permits the spring 14 to push the lever 6 and the link 9 upward as indicated in Fig.- valve casing carried by the engine. Fig. 8 is.

3. When.;.however, the semaphore arm is moved to indicate a clear trackit pulls upon connection 16 so as to pull. downward on' e upper sur-' the switchis opened element 16 will become slack and permit spring ltto raise lever 6 whereas when the switch is closed it will pull on the element 16 and cause the lever .6 to be swung downward below the top of 10 the rail.

The parts hereinbefore described are designed, when lever 6 is held in raised position,'to operatea signal apparatus carried by a locomotive traveling along the track in the direction of the semaphore or switch. This .larin apparatus, as shown by the drawings, consists of a casing 24 carried by the locomotive A. at one side thereof. said casing being provided with an angular plunger 25 provided with a' stem 26 which projects downward through the bottom of the casing. This stem has a shoe 27 connected to its lower end and designed, when the plunger is in its lowest position, to move 25 into contact with and to ride upward upon the lever 6 should the. same be in raised position. To'facilitate this upward movement of the shoe the lower face thereof is preferably rounded s clearly indicated. in Fig. 7

' The casing 24 is provided with a partition 28 which divides said casing into a receiving compartment 29 and a plunger compartment 30. A door 31 is formed within this partitionand a bypass 32 is forined 'in one face of theplunger and is designed, when said plunger is raised to a certain position, to register with port 31 and to I also register with an" outlet port 33. A pipe 34 extends through this outlet port and into the cab 'of the engine, the same being provided with a whistle 35 or'other air operated signal. Ah air-inlet" pipe 36 extends from the air tank 37 of the' locomotive to the compartment 29. In order that the plunger may be frictionall'y held in any positionto which it is'shi'fted, a follower 38 is mounted to move transversely within the casing 24 and is held clamped against the plunger by means of a spring 39.

A -rool 40 is slidably mounted within the upper portion of the casing 24.- and directly above the plunger 25 and is connected to a bell crank lever 41 designed to be actuated through a rod 42 from a lever 43 preferably locatedvv within the cab.

When it is desired to set the alarm apparatus lever 3 is actuated so as to push rod 40 downward against plunger 25 and; shift said plunger and its shoe 27 to their lowermost positions. Rod 40 is then raised by means of lever 4-3 so that the upward movement of plunger 25 will not be interfered with. Should leve r 6 be raised by reason of an open switch or the display of danger signal as heretofore described the shoe 27 upon the approaching locomotive will strike and ride upward upon said lever (l and force -t'he plunger 25 upward until the by-pass 32 registerswithports 3'1 and 38. Air will be promptly directed from the tank or reservoir 37 and pipe 30 into pipe 34 and to the whistle or other signal device and as the plunger 25 is held in shifted position by the follower 38 it will be apparent that this whistle ornothcr signal device will continue to sonn'dtor operateuntil the engineer lowers the plunger in the manner heretofore described. The operation of the signal 35 will thus always indicate the presence of danger. It is of course apparent that should no danger signal be displayed or should the switch be closed the lowered shoe 2? will not be operated because lever 6 will be lowered out of the path of said shoe.

Although a lever 43 audits connection have been shown and described for returning the plunger 25 to its lowermost position,

-1t is to be understood that any other suitable means may be employed in lieu thereof. Although the part 27 has been shown as a slidable shoe it is to be understood that if preferred a wheel, spring or other device may be employed in lieu' thereof.

' What isclaimed is:

1. The combination with a motor carried signal; of-meansfor actuating the same comprising a yieldingly supported normally inclined tripping device, means for limiting the movement of said device in one direction, and a movable trafiic controlling means cooperating with 'said device and disposed when shifted'out of danger position to move the tripping device out of operative position.

2. The combination with. a. motor carried signal-;of means for operating the same comprising a pivoted spring supported tripping lever, a link pivotally connected thereto, a guide for the link, separate means for detachably-connecting the lever and guide to a rail, movable traffic controlling means, and a flexible connection between said means and the tripping device.

3. The combination with 'trafiic controlling means and a tripping device cooperating therewith, said device being disposed to automatically assume an operative position when thecontrollingmeans is in a. predetermined position; of motor carried means comprising a casing, a reservoir, a signal,

pipe connections between the signal and casing and between the reservoir and casing, a plunger for establishing communication between said connections, means connected to the plunger and cooperating with the tripping device for actuating said plunger, and spring'presse'd means within the casing for frictionally engaging the plunger to hold it.

in shifted position.

I when-the centrolli'ng meansis in operative pos tion; of motor carried means comprisingvice for directing an operating agent to the 4.,The combination with ti afiic"coI' 1t1'o1 tiQnsLIiyengagin said shiftable means for 10 ling means :and; a tripping. device cetSperat- "binding it in-shi ed position; f v ing therewith, sa,id device being disposed-"to In testimony thatI claim the foregoing as automatically assume an operative pesition; my own'fI heve'jhereto afli zed my signature in'the'pi esence of; two witnesses. v W ALBERT M. JONES; a signal, means shiftable by theti ippmg (16:; Witnesses: t

GEO. S. F QKLER,

signal, and spring pressed--means fer fric- I ALBERT J. Lone. 

